All Forum Posts by: Tim Miller

I would simply reply with: I'm extremely upset (almost to tears) and shocked to receive such a disheartening letter and I'm extremely offended that you want me to harm a beautiful living tree! I guess all of my neighbors are not the great tree-huggers that I thought they were. I'm soo very sad.

I would leave it at that and say no more.

Quote from @Dan N.:

Hi Tim

Regarding the loans being on the name of the LLC, I foresee two problems

1. They will only be for holding the property, so they won't generate enough profit to qualify for another loan to that LLC

2. If I want to refinance, I will have to move it back to my own name for the same reasons.

Am I missing something regarding this aspect of it?

Hi Dan. We're not having that problem with our properties not generating enough profit. But there is still no need to take a property out of an LLC and put it in you name. My best advise is for you find a local bank and talk to their commercial loan officer. He or she will be able to explain their process and  best way to achieve your goals for borrowing money in the LLC name.

Just for reference, we bought our first property with our LLC. It wasn't producing a single penny when we closed on it. That was 8 years ago and we've bought other properties since then using the LLC.

@Dan N. LLC's can provide legal protection but you don't need an LLC for every rental property you buy. You simply create one LLC for your rental business and set up two bank accounts. One for holding security deposits and the other for collecting rent and paying bills.

Another reason for buying property in an LLC is for borrowing money. If you bought 5 rental properties in your name and had a loan on each one. That would hurt you personally. We you go for an auto loan or to by a vacation home. The lender is going to see all 5 loans and question if you are able to pay back the new loan you are requesting. Now have 5 loans in the LLC name and you ask for a auto loan, the lender will never see the 5 loans you have in the LLC.

Another plus to the LLC, if you do it right. Your tenants don't have to know you own the building. All they have to know is, you are the manager of the property. Provided you don't use your home address as your business address. If you were to Google our business, all you would fine is a Registered agent and a address to a UPS Store.

Best advise is not to over think the process and don't make it complicated.

@Amanda Copeland Almost any internet ready thermostat will work. Example, Google Nest or Eco. Are good and provide a way to password lock the device. We use a Honeywell thermostat and can control it from a cell phone.

One more thing, keep track of all the utilities for your taxes. You can deduct 1/2 the cost from your taxes. 

I'm with Joseph on this, need more info but I smell a rat. Just being honest. Why would someone making $300k + a year want to only rent? Can you actually verify that she is a true Doctor? Can you 100% verify that she truly makes $347,000 a year? Again, something is just not adding up here.

Our process is simple, everyone has to fill out an application and everyone has to meet our requirements to get approved. The boyfriend alone would disqualify their application for any of our units. Good luck

If you're going to be a long distant landlord, you need to get your house in order and fast! Today is the 12th of July and you posted this 3 days ago. You should have already sent notice of failure to pay on July 2nd. By the 5th or 6th (depending on local law) you should have filed in court for failure to pay rent. If the rental property is too far to deal with this yourself, either get a PM to manage it going forward or find a local attorney to process for you.

We have units that are almost 2 hrs drive from where we live. We can manage everything electronically for all notices. If we have to file with the court, we email our attorney all the supporting documents and they take over. Remember to always work smarter.

Good for you Ben, hold your ground because she's going to fight you on this. I love "I was "advised"(by who?) HIPAA?

As everyone else stated, I would signup for Petscreening.com and require this for all your tenants going forward. It will save you time and lots of headaches. Good Luck.

Congratulation and welcome to the school of hard knocks!

I would say your spot on for $2,500 a month. I would High light that Heat, Water/Sewer is included in the rental ad along with in-unit w/d. This should help you to stand out from the other rental ads.

Some things to keep in mind, do you know about what your average water usage is now? If it's just you living there and you are using 6,000 gal of w/s every 3 months. You'll want to double or more that for upstairs. 2 people moving in you could see usage about 10,000 to 16,000 gal every 3 months. You will want to know the cost for your own usage so you have an idea what it'll cost with the tenants living up stairs. You'll want to set a limit with the new tenants, if water bill is over $x.xx you will be responsible for the overage.

Example, we have over/under duplexes, we include water/sewer but we let the tenants in both units know that if the water bill is over $300 for the period, they pay the differences. Water bill is $350 we would split the $50 overage with both units. This will help to keep your cost down and will let the tenant know that they can't just waste water.

Heat, this can become a issue real fast. You will want to let the tenant know that the heat is set to a max of 70 degrees. Make sure the thermostat is in your living area. If not, get a digital one that you control from your phone and use a pass code to lock it.

All of this needs to be put into your lease agreement as well. You don't want to get them any room to argue with you about this.

The parking space, make sure this is in the lease as well. Make sure you cover guest parking. If you don't, you'll come home one day and all your parking is full.

One last and very important thing. Do not let any tenant have any leeway with parking space, heat or the water. Once you do, they will except it going forward. Good Luck!

Not sure if everyone has or not but it sounds like you're only talking to the Credit Union. That's mistake number 1! Don't stop there, keep going, they say No, try another bank and keep at it. Another problem is the debt to what it appraised for. Try for an FHA loan, you're father-in-law might have better luck.

As for the rental property, if it's not in your name, you can't get a loan for it. Maybe your wife can get her name on the rental property and try to get it refinance that way.

How about you and your wife co-signing a refi loan for you father in law?

Like I said before, don't just stop at one bank. Hit all the local banks, credit unions and expand from there. Time is running out, don't wait on them. Good Luck.

Well, PeerStreet just filed for Bankruptcy on 6-28-23

https://www.crowdfundinsider.c...